Camping Out for Tickets: A Clemson Football Tradition

Every year when football season rolls around, tradition stands that the students camp out for their tickets. Students have an opportunity to join the Collegiate level IPTAY donation program, giving them the opportunity to get tickets a week in advance of other students.

The tents go on and on. They actually wrap around the stadium for most games. On Saturday we play FSU, a game that we were told no guest tickets would be available for because of the high demand.

Last Thursday was the first day of ticket distribution for IPTAY members for this game, but starting Tuesday night the campers were already out. I got to the ticket office at 11 a.m. on Thursday, just three hours after tickets started getting distributed.

It shocked me that the lower level student section was already sold out after just three hours. For any other game I can walk up around 1 p.m. and still get whatever seat I want.

Some students make this a social thing. They bring food, grills, and homework to cook out, socialize, and get a little studying done. Everyone seems to enjoy themselves, even if it is freezing outside.

I talked to a few students who have camped out for small games and they say it's an experience everyone should have before leaving Clemson.

This tradition reminds me of Duke University's Krzyzewksiville, K-Ville for short. I have walked through it a few times going to UNC-Duke basketball games, but I think it is pretty similar.

One thing Duke does differently is Coach K sometimes goes out and buys pizza for the campers and holds "team meetings." I don't think it would hurt if Dabo went out there and socialized a little more with some of the fans, especially since he is still a new coach.

I'm sure most colleges have some sort of tradition similar to this, but I think it is clear that the ACC has the best fans, for football or basketball, out of all of the NCAA conferences.